peeking out from between the ferns and tossing our disclaimers onto the ballroom floor.

I shan't do that because my shortcomings will be immediately apparent to anyone who reads anything I submit.

My problem is that I have a principal character whom I dislike. My secondary characters, insofar as they have substance at all, are wraiths. I do not know what is going to happen except it involves a briefcase full of high explosive (picric acid, aka Lyddite) that is found either on a train or lying beside the right of way. This of course suggests a few threads, especially since my character as of this writing is a railway detective. I am considering involving syndicalists to some extent, since 1911 was the beginning of the apogee of that movement. Originally I set it in Lincolnshire, but that was a bit finely spun since so far as I know so far syndicalism was not a force in the fens. Now I am thinking of the southeast, especially since Sheerness and Richborough are on the old Chatham line.

There is a rule that for a successful mystery, the body has to drop in the first few pages. I would like to avoid having any bodies drop, or, if they must, have it be narrated rather than having them smeared with ugsome body fluids for all to see.

So I am going to poke around a little bit and see if I can find a few likeable traits for my detective. I know that he patronizes Lyon's Tea Shops and, in extremis, Johnny Walker Red Label (which is what Churchill drank and which may be convenient later on.) Oh and as far as women go, he is subject to fits of longing, but has no idea where to go from there.

In any case, regards to all of you. Oh, and if I vanish from the group it may be because my detective has strangled me in my sleep.

Charles Rignall

Welcome to Writewords, I look forward to reading a steam-powered corpse rising in the first few pages!
G

Welcome. I'm off to learn about syndicalists.

<Added>

It looks very interesting. I never knew about syndicalism as a replacement/alternative to capitalism/socialism (not heard of it full stop). But I think it's one to read about another day when I'm not quite so tired and haven't had a couple of wines. Perhaps it will be an exciting read in January when I am on my Dryathlon.

Good to see you in WriteWords. There's lots to learn and lots of learned people here. I'm part of the former, still absorbing from the latter.

Welcome to WriteWords. You'll find it a helpful and constructive site.

my shortcomings will be immediately apparent to anyone who reads anything I submit

Given the quality of ideas you have indicated in your post, I don't think you need to worry on this score. In any case, be assured that everybody feels that way about putting work up for comment!

My problem is that I have a principal character whom I dislike.

Is that just your feeling, or do you think it might be shared by the reader? The problem can be terminal if the reader consistently dislikes the main character, especially if the MC is doing stuff that is itself disagreeable. Maybe one of your secondary characters, rather than being one of the wraiths you described, could be one with whom the reader can identify, perhaps even providing some or all of the narrative point of view. That character could then explain, redeem, justify, oppose or possibly ridicule the MC, making the MC an acceptable, more welcome presence for the reader. An example might be (Lord) Widmerpool (one of several MC's) in Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time observed by the (narrating) Nicholas Jenkins, with whom the reader identifies but who seems to do very little himself in terms of action. Jenkins observes the ghastly character's progress with fascinated humour but also provides some redemption for him by explaining obliquely how he has come to be the way he is and how the behaviour of some of the other principal characters pushed him in that direction.

It's just a thought but the likeable traits you mention at the end might make the alternative approach unnecessary.

Dear Chris2;

Thank you for your observations. I know what you mean - a Watson to Holmes (Holmes being insufferable), or the mental presence that haunts Inspector Rutledge during the run of the Charles Todd mysteries. Or Archie Goodwin's relationship to Nero Wolfe. The ease with which we have come up with examples makes me suspect the two-part main character may be a cliche.

An alternative is to switch to first person narrative in the manner of the interlocutor in the dramatization of Henry James' Golden Bowl. This is appealing because it is notoriously easier to write in the first person. Moreover it restrains one's prose, which in my case too often turns into an end in itself.

Something I tried in my stalled manuscript (to which the present effort is a prequel) was to have my main character devoted to popular mysteries, referring his actions to a standard set by improbably heroic/clever characters who always seem to have advanced degrees in extinct oriental languages. Perhaps I can have him studying cuneiform in a correspondence course.

Regards and thanks,

Charlie Rignall

Alas, by 'steam powered corpse' I think you may be referring to me!

Regards,

Charlie

Well, it's either syndicalism or theosophy. I have to do some work myself, on the dock strikes of 1911. The dock strike has to have happened before July 1911 so I can fit in the Agadir crisis in my next effort.

Regards,

Charlie

Syndicalism would be a terrific engine for a plot, I'd have thought.